FRISCO -- Stars forward Tyler Pitlick will miss at least the next eight weeks following surgery on his left wrist to repair tendon damage, potentially ruling him out for the rest of the regular season.

"It lessens our depth," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "He's a tenacious player that we use on penalty kill; we've used him on power play. Obviously, his ability to play well with [Radek Faksa] on a checking line is going to be missed. Opportunity for others to step up, and they have recently."

Pitlick has missed the last five games with the injury, and the earliest he would return under the current time line is April 2 against Philadelphia, the third-to-last regular-season game for Dallas. Pitlick has six goals and four assists in 43 games this season, and he last played Jan. 17 against Los Angeles.

Pitlick exited the game against the Kings late in the second period after being hit hard by Los Angeles forward Dustin Brown.

"I think it was something over time, and I don't know if it was the Brown hit or something in that Kings game that maybe turned it," Montgomery said. "But it's a tendon, and you never know when they go from being a nuisance to being painful."

Pitlick primarily played in a third-line role alongside Faksa and Blake Comeau, helping form a line that started nearly 70 percent of its shifts in the defensive zone and still had more shots on goal and shot attempts than the opposition.

With Pitlick on injured reserve for the foreseeable future, the Stars will be able to take extended looks at Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov in the lineup.

"I think this is their opportunity to seize being an everyday NHL player," Montgomery said. "They don't have to score to be an NHL player, but when you're not scoring, you have to have an impact and help us win. That's the evolution of their game, and I think we're seeing it with Roope. I don't think Denis is there right now. Denis needs to add that acumen to his game that when he's not scoring, that he's helping us win either with physicality or his attention to detail without the puck."

Hintz and Gurianov have bobbed up and down between Dallas and AHL affiliate Texas this season, but Hintz has been with the team for the last 15 games while Gurianov has played in the last five. They comprise two-thirds of the fourth line, with Brett Ritchie on right wing.

Hintz has three goals and three assists in 29 games this season, including a power-play goal on Monday night against Arizona. Gurianov has a goal and three assists in 16 games but has often flashed his speed to create scoring chances.

Montgomery and assistant coach Rick Bowness have added penalty-killing responsibilities to Hintz's duties, a way to add minutes to his ledger ("He's a guy that skates effortlessly, so he can log a lot more minutes," Montgomery said) and take advantage of his added defensive skills.

"How hard he is on pucks in confrontational areas, whether it's getting pucks out just inside the blue line or driving pucks wide at the offensive blue line, his attention to detail in the D-zone has really been good since the second call-up," Montgomery said. "He's someone I rely on and trust in those situations."

Gurianov, a first-round pick in 2015, was having the best season of his career in the AHL, with 13 goals and 21 assists in 33 games. But that success hasn't translated to the NHL, and his lone goal was a point shot that glanced off his knee and in.

"A lot of people see value in just scoring points," Montgomery said. "That's natural when you've done that your whole life like Denny has. He's got to understand that helping build momentum and having us have four lines that are relentless is important. ... If he focuses on those, it's going to give him success, and he's going to see that by the acknowledgment that he gets from his teammates."

-- Montgomery said the Stars would start goaltender Anton Khudobin in Nashville on Thursday night. Khudobin has been masterful against the Predators this season, picking up two wins by stopping 87 of 88 shots.

Montgomery said he was not concerned about getting Ben Bishop a start in Nashville, which could be a possible location of a first-round series for Dallas.

"You don't mess with it right now," Montgomery said. "You worry about that in the playoffs. Right now, we're just going to play Khudobin."

Most recently, Khudobin made 38 saves in a 3-1 Stars win in Nashville on Saturday night, when Khudobin also got into an exchange with Predators forward Ryan Hartman.